Thoughts on maturing palates

Food lovers can get a culinary snapshot of a city by studying several local restaurant menus.

I’ve developed a theory about restaurant cooking: The more sophisticated the market, the simpler and more unified the dishes.

Since I’ve become a restaurant critic I’ve traveled to lots of places in the United States, some known for food, such as New York, and others that are not high on most people’s list, like Tulsa, Okla., and Little Rock, Ark.

I’m always interested in how a local culture is reflected on the menu. That’s why one of my favorite things to do when I get Nation’s Restaurant News every other week is to look for the “What’s Hot In” feature, where the editors list specialties at popular restaurants in various cities.

By looking over these lists, I get a snapshot of the culinary scene in a city, and to me it reflects the continuing evolution of cooking and dining around the United States.

In my experience, when dining markets (and chefs) are young and inexperienced they experiment wildly; as they mature they are more attuned to cultural boundaries and better able to successfully break the rules.

I was a restaurant critic in Dallas during the birth of the New Southwestern cuisine movement in the early 1980s. At that time, there were few rules and boundaries and chefs made it up along the way; some combinations were outrageously complicated and incongruous. Just about everything that was labeled Southwestern had to include chiles.

It was new, different and exciting — I loved it all. In retrospect I was captured by the novelty, not really the taste, which was secondary to creativity.

Things have changed a lot with Texas food, and with me. I don’t think I’m less adventuresome; I’m just not as carried away by a culinary thrill ride.